Verdict

Movie: You Don't Mess With The Zohan

Judge and I were in a movie mood this weekend between our rock and roll functions (it just sounds fun to say that, even if it isn't true) and went to see the Judd Apatow new flick with Adam Sandler. We had high hopes after seeing hilarious trailers, and left with a neutral feeling about the whole thing.

The story goes that Sandler (Zohan) is an Iraeli army member who is incredible at killing, capturing, etc. the Palistinian army dudes. But his secret desire is to do hair. After a mission to kill John Turturo's character, Phantom, he fakes his death and runs away to the States.

I was disappointed in the lameness of Turturo's character. He made me laugh out loud in Mr. Deeds, but this one fell flat. I did like how the Israeli/Palistinian conflict was done in this movie, it seemed they treated it with just enough respect not to get bombed after making the movie, but made enough fun to make people think, "Why are they still fighting? Oh right, the land issue. But what about peace talks?"

The kid who winds up helping Zohan out and giving him a place to stay was pretty hilarious. Also, the cod piece Sandler sports is out of control, as well as his ability to shag everything in sight. Still, I was left feeling a little like the plot was taken from any number of Austin Powers movies, without the bad teeth.

It was a good place to hang on a Sunday afternoon when it was raging hot outside, but I wish the script had been better. The last Sandler movie we saw was Click or something like that, and it was just plain awful. Even with Christopher Walken in it. Don't go all Chevy on us, Adam.